


Playing Hard to Get

by legsanddairy



Series: Bayonetta and Jeanne - Then and Now [2]
Category: Bayonetta (Video Games)
Genre: BayoJan - Freeform, Bayojeanne, Childhood Friends, Childhood Memories, F/F, Jeannetta - Freeform, bayojeanne week
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-10-29
Updated: 2016-10-29
Packaged: 2018-08-27 17:13:33
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,474
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8409916
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/legsanddairy/pseuds/legsanddairy
Summary: How did Cereza get the gem for Cheshire the doll's right eye?Written for 2016 BayoJeanne week's prompt "playing hard to get".This story is mentioned in my other story, "Bayonetta Buys a ShIIba Box".





	

Jeanne sat in the centre of the group of girls, as usual. Sometimes the girls spoke amongst themselves, and sometimes they tried to get Jeanne’s opinion, but whenever Jeanne spoke, they would all fall silent and lean in, giving her their full attention.

It had always seemed to be this way. Jeanne always had the charisma, the glow around her of authority. Of course, as a child she never thought much about how this came to be, that people would always cater to her every need and hang on to her every word. So when the first exception appeared in her life, she was very surprised.

[---]

Jeanne wandered off with her precious stuffed toy, Charles, in tow. Strolling down the sacred Umbran hallways, everyone stopped to acknowledge her presence. She found a comfortable window ledge, and proceeded to settle herself on it. She looked out the half tinted windows at the courtyard, where Umbran witch trainees older than her were hard at practice.

She cuddled Charles close to her, and took out the book she had chosen to read that day. It was about the finest heroines in Umbran history and their adventures - the fearsome Infernal Demons they had tamed, the many enemies they had defeated, and the people they had saved along the way.

Occasionally she would look up at passersby in the castle, who were always alert to whether Jeanne noticed them or not. They would greet her with a “your highness”, sensing that Jeanne was probably occupied with reading, but also not wanting to be discourteous by not addressing her. They would only carry on as they were, after Jeanne had acknowledged them with a nod.

And so Jeanne’s day continued in this fashion. After a particularly engrossing story about the powerful Witch and Queen, Cleopatra (Jeanne wanted to be like her someday), Jeanne stretched her arms, looking up from the book. She locked eyes with another girl, around her age, sauntering down the castle corridor.

Jeanne waited, instinctively, for the curtsey and greeting of “your highness”. But it never came. The girl simply kept looking at her, while walking by. She had obviously noticed Jeanne there! Jeanne was incredulous, and stared blankly at the girl’s silhouette as she moved further down the hallway. Several moments passed, and Jeanne still could not comprehend why she had been ignored.

Ignored! Such a foreign sensation to her. It did not quite feel well, in a confusing way. She fumed, clutching at Charles, the book temporarily forgotten. And that is how Jeanne, the girl who always captured the gaze of the crowd, found her gaze on someone else, for the first time.

For some reason, the girl had now decided to double back the hallway. Upon realizing that the girl was approaching in her direction yet again, Jeanne found herself feeling apprehensive. Should she call the girl out on her behaviour? This situation had never happened before, and Jeanne felt that in the Umbran Elder’s words, that this girl was ‘insolent’. Though, if Jeanne was honest with herself, she had felt more dumbfounded, than offended.

So she was not prepared when the girl suddenly addressed her. “Excuse me, did you happen to see a big button around here?”

The girl’s voice was chirpy, yet she enunciated her words in a curious, laid back manner. Did she even know who Jeanne was?

There was a big stuffed doll in the girl’s hands, which somewhat resembled Charles, but much more misshapen. The girl was gesturing to the doll’s face, and Jeanne noticed that the right eye was missing. Presumably what the girl was referring to as a button.

“No, I haven’t.” Jeanne’s answer was brief, her tone as she usually spoke to other girls her age. 

“Oh, okay!” The girl’s voice had such a unique tempo to it. “If you do see it somewhere, please tell me though, okay?”

Then the girl then simply turned away and made to walk off. Again Jeanne couldn’t help but notice the contrast between the attention span this girl gave her, versus the other girls, who would always try to prolong any established conversation with her. It was such a foreign feeling.

“Wait!” Jeanne called.

The girl stopped and looked back at her. “Oh! Did you find it?”

“No, I didn’t - I mean, actually I was wondering, what is your doll’s name?”

“Oh! This is Cheshire!” The girl patted the doll’s head fondly. She shuffled up close to Jeanne, holding up the doll to her, and wiggled its head, miming its speech with a deeper voice. “Hi, my name is Cheshire, nice to meet you!”

Jeanne couldn’t help but giggle. “Hello, Cheshire. Pleased to make your acquaintance.” She reached beside her for Charles, and held it up to the girl, mimicking her and moving Charles’ head as if it were speaking. “My name is Charles! And if I may ask, what is the name of the girl with you, Cheshire?”

The girl moved Cheshire up to her ear, as if the doll were whispering to her. “Hey Cereza, she wants to know your name! Should I tell her?” The girl nodded, keeping up the act despite Jeanne being perfectly in earshot. “Sure Cheshire! You can tell her I’m Cereza! And could you please ask her name for me too?”

And so Cheshire ‘told’ Jeanne Cereza’s name, while asking for hers.

“I’m Jeanne. It’s nice to meet you, Cereza.” Jeanne gave a brief nod. 

“Jeanne, that’s such a cute name!” The girl beamed.

Something occurred to Jeanne. “Have you ever heard of me before?”

Cereza nodded. “Yes I have, you’re Princess Jeanne, right?”

“Oh. So you do know who I am!” Jeanne certainly hadn’t really been expecting it, given Cereza’s earlier behaviour. “So, um… I was wondering, why did you ignore me the first time you passed by?”

“I was just busy looking for Cheshire’s eye! It was gone yesterday, and he needs it to see, so I’ve been trying to find it all day!” The girl looked up hopefully at Jeanne. “Could you please help me find it?”

The girl really had not given any thought of how to treat Jeanne differently, with ‘due respect’ to the Princess, hadn’t she? It was the first time that Jeanne started to wonder why other witches treated her so. She was much more intrigued by Cereza, who seemed so easy going and unrestrained, than anyone else that had tried to keep her attention by being extremely courteous. Canned, endlessly recited polite phrases, all sounded the same, no matter who they were spoken by.

However, it was still a big departure from the usual etiquette Jeanne was used to - no one would dare ask her for favours without a great deal of cajoling and flattery. So she tried to not give up too much of her power away, just yet. 

“Hmm, well since you ignored me before, why should I help you?” She crossed her arms and looked away.

“Aww! Please?”

Jeanne ignored her, determined to give Cereza a taste of her own medicine.

“Pretty please?”

No response from Jeanne.

“Aww okay… I guess it’s okay if Cutie Jeanne doesn’t want to help us, Cheshire, we can just do it ourselves.” She looked wistfully down at Cheshire. “Then I have to get going now Jeanne, because I really need to find it!” And again, she made to leave.

There was just something about Cereza that made Jeanne really want to keep her attention… Probably due to her being the first one Jeanne actually had to make an effort in order to do so. Even playing hard to get didn’t work. Cereza didn’t feel obliged to her, at all, she finally realized.

“Wait - alright, alright, I’ll help you find Cheshire’s eye!” She grabbed Charles and her Umbran tales book, and slid off the window ledge. 

“Yayyy!” Cereza exclaimed, and without warning, she threw herself at Jeanne, wrapping her arms tightly around Jeanne in what Jeanne had only heard about before as a ‘bear hug”. 

This girl… she had just given Jeanne a lot of firsts within an hour of meeting her. Again, no one else would have dared hug the Umbran heiress like this! And slowly, Jeanne was beginning to warm up to it, it was so different. Different and nice, that someone could act like themselves around Jeanne, and Jeanne could let down her royal walls down, in turn.

[---]

In the end, they weren’t able to find to find Cheshire’s eye. But a couple of days later, Jeanne simply went to the royal treasury and took a red gemstone that seemed like a suitable size. She gave it to Cereza, and after several hours together of figuring out how to sew it in, the doll was whole again. And a joyful Cereza gave Jeanne another bear hug - the second of many more to come.

**Author's Note:**

> Shoutout to xAll4one for being so supportive of my writing :)


End file.
